by Murray N. Rothbard
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Product Description
The Mises Institute is pleased to present this very beautiful hardbound edition of Rothbard's most famous monetary essay--the one that has influenced two generations of economists, investors, and business professionals. The Mises Institute has united this book with its natural complement: a detailed reform proposal for a 100 percent gold dollar. The Case for a 100 Percent Gold Dollar was written a decade before the last vestiges of the gold standard were abolished. His unique plan for making the dollar sound again still holds up. Some people have said: Rothbard tells us what is wrong with money but not what to do about it. Well, by adding this essay, the problem and the answer are united in a comprehensive whole. After presenting the basics of money and banking theory, he traces the decline of the dollar from the 18th century to the present, and provides lucid critiques of central banking, New Deal monetary policy, Nixonian fiat money, and fixed exchange rates. He also provides a blueprint for a return to a 100 percent reserve gold standard. The book made huge theoretical advances. He was the first to prove that the government, and only the government, can destroy money on a mass scale, and he showed exactly how they go about this dirty deed. But just as importantly, it is beautifully written. He tells a thrilling story because he loves the subject so much. The passion that Murray feels for the topic comes through in the prose and transfers to the reader. Readers become excited about the subject, and tell others. Students tell professors. Some, like the great Ron Paul of Texas, have even run for political office after having read it. Rothbard shows precisely how banks create money out of thin air and how the central bank, backed by government power, allows them to get away with it. He shows how exchange rates and interest rates would work in a true free market. When it comes to describing the end of the gold standard, he is not content to describe the big trends. He names names and ferrets out all the interest groups involved. Since Rothbard's death, scholars have worked to assess his legacy, and many of them agree that this little book is one of his most important. Though it has sometimes been inauspiciously packaged and is surprisingly short, its argument took huge strides toward explaining that it is impossible to understand public affairs in our time without understanding money and its destruction.
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Average Customer Review:
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
What, indeed, 2008-09-17
This is the great Murray Rothbard's popular and eminently readable introduction to money and the government destruction thereof. He presents the subject simply and in a way that makes for very interesting reading, in a field that is not known for producing page-turners. The book is short, and provides a solid understanding of money and how it works, even for someone with no background in economics. I don't know why I didn't read this when I was in high school; it should be required reading for every high school student. If thousands of years of history have shown anything at all, they have shown conclusively that one thing we can be absolutely certain of is the addiction of government to the plunder of its own people by debasing its money. Murray Rothbard has shown precisely how this is accomplished, as well as pointing out some of the moral implications of a fraudulent monetary system.
It seems to me that when almost everyone spends most of their lives focusing on acquiring, accumulating, and increasing money, they should pay at least minimal attention to the basics of what money fundamentally is, and how readily it can (and inevitably will) be destroyed by a government that has granted itself absolute control over the money mechanism. This book will explain all of that, and it is sure to get your attention.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
We each rely on money for our well-being, so shouldn't we understand it?, 2008-09-05
This was not only the best book that I've read on the subject of money, it was one of the most interesting books I've ever read (or listened to in audio, rather). Most people have a scant concept of money; most of them have never considered too-far-in what money actually is. I think this book should not only be required reading for economists and businessmen, but it should be required reading for all college-level students. (Though, we wouldn't want to enforce that requirement through state power, of course.)
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
little book, big ideas, 2008-08-14
In this great, little book Rothbard explains the history of money, why precious metals naturally developed to be the de facto world currency, and how governments cause economic problems by forcing people to use fiat currency, e.g. federal reserve notes.
This is information everyone should know.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
A book as necessary as clean air, 2008-07-25
Monetary theory is one of those subjects that (1) appeals to no one, (2) must be understood by everyone, and (3) is in fact roundly misunderstood by most of the so-called monetary experts.
What is the basis for my claim?
(1) Try talking to your friends about fiat money, commodity money, and fractional serve banking sometime. If they don't tune you out right away it's only because they're your friends. (2) Money, in an advanced society, is involved on at least one side of almost every transaction. Liberty, prosperity, and peace will not be around long if our ideas about money are flawed. (3) That industrialized societies have been subject to economic crises since the inception of the Industrial Revolution suggests that the most influential minds are influencing us in wrong ways.
What can you do? Get Rothbard's book and devour it.
You'll learn what money is, how it emerged, and how it's been corrupted by government and banking. You'll also understand why central banking is a polite name for central counterfeiting and why an autonomous gold standard is the only monetary system compatible with civilization.
Rothbard's book is an easy read and a must-read. Give copies to your friends. Send copies to the Fed. But read it yourself first. He wrote it for you.
George Ford Smith
author, The Flight of the Barbarous Relic
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
Murray Rothbart and money, 2008-04-15
The late Murray Rothbart was right on the money (pun not intended) when he spoke about the Federal Reserve and our need to get back to the gold standard. His solutions to our financial woes are simple, elegant, and definitely to the point. Why hasn't anybody implemented them? Makes you wonder if anybody actually wants to fix things.
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